Canadian parents pump half a billion dollars into schools

Across Ontario, Canada, parents are raising more than half a billion dollars a year for their children's schools, with $245 million of that raised in Greater Toronto alone. In the first-ever look at how much money ends up in public schools through fundraising and fees, boards reported a total of $567,040,304 for the 2005-2006 school year, says the annual report from the advocacy group People for Education, to be released today. That's more than 3% of the province's education budget. People for Education spokesperson Annie Kidder warned that it is creating a two-tiered system. A small number of schools are raising most of the money, according to the report. "Communities that can raise huge amounts of money will have more of what's needed to make an excellent public school," Kidder said. Read this article in The Toronto Star online and another on the same topic at globeandmail.com